BFI and BBC witness THE CHANGES (review)

In this landmark piece of British children's television base don the trilogy of novels by Peter Dickinson, people inexplicably start destroying modern technology and reverting to earlier ways of living, but with this simpler existence comes amplified racism, sexism, and superstition.  A young schoolgirl separated from her parents makes a trip across the country running into friends and foes and risks being branded a witch as she tries to discover the reason for THE CHANGES.

REVIEW LINK: British Film Institute (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE CHANGES DVD specs:

• 4:3 anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Ten Episodes on Two Discs
• "At Home in Britain" Vintage Featurette
• Essay Booklet

BFI presents BBC's THE BOY FROM SPACE (review)

In this memorable "Look and Read" series aimed at increasing children's reading comprehension and encouraging them to pick up books, two siblings track what they believe to be a meteor only to discover an alien boy who is being pursued by a sinister "thin man" who may also be an alien.  The original 1971 serial was shot on color film but broadcast in black and white with video segments featuring host Wordy providing grammar lessons and reviewing the details of the story.  This footage was wiped by the BBC but the film materials remained, so new color video segments with Wordy and his companion Cosmo were created in 1980 around the original serial.  This is the version presented on BFI's 2-disc set.

REVIEW LINK: British Film Institute (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

THE BOY FROM SPACE DVD specs:

• Disc One:
• All ten episodes of the 1980 "Look and Read" serial
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• Disc Two:
• Feature version of the 1971 film serial
• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• Optional English subtitles
• BBC Records LP Audio Version
• Newly-edited film version utilizing audio from the LP and video from the serial
• "Wordy's Think-Ups" Musical Segments from the "Look and Read" Serial
• DVD-ROM: the 1971 and 1979 booklets of the story (45 pages each in PDF)
• Essay Booklet

The BFI and the BBC dig up ROBIN REDBREAST (review)

Anticipating the folk horror of THE WICKER MAN, this long unseen "Play for Today" teleplay ROBIN REDBREAST tells the story of a script editor (Anna Cropper) who decides to clear her head by leaving the city for a country cottage in a quaint little village.  The locals are eccentric and prying, and soon she begins to realize that she has become part of a mysterious plot involving the local harvest festival.  Written by John Bowen, author of "A Woman Sobbing" for the series DEAD OF NIGHT as well as "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" and "The Ice House" for A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS).

REVIEW LINK: British Film Institute (UK) Region 2 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

ROBIN REDBREAST DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• English SDH subtitles
• Interview with writer John Bowen
• Short film "Around a Village Green" (1934)
• Collector's Booklet

BFI wakes in the DEAD OF NIGHT (review)

Venture into the DEAD OF NIGHT with the British Film Institute as they rescue from the BBC vaults that three surviving episodes of this seventies TV chiller series.  In THE EXORCISM, two couples celebrating Christmas dinner in a renovated country cottage are chosen for centuries old supernatural retribution.  In RETURN FLIGHT, an aging airplane captain has an encounter in the sky with what might be a literal "phantom" aircraft.  In A WOMAN SOBBING, an unhappy housewife believes she is either going mad or the ghost of a woman is haunting the attic of her country home.  Anna Cropper, Clive Swift, Peter Barkworth, and Anna Massey star.

REVIEW LINKS: British Film Institute (UK) Region 2 PAL (DVDBeaver)

DEAD OF NIGHT DVD specs:

• 4:3 non-anamorphic 1.33:1 fullscreen (original aspect ratio)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono
• The three surviving episodes "The Exorcism", "Return Flight", and "A Woman Sobbing"
• Photo galleries from two of the missing episodes
• PDF screenplays for all seven episodes

BFI tells GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS (review)

In one five-disc set, the British Film Institute brings together all nine of the original "Ghost Story for Christmas" adaptations from M.R. James, Charles Dickens, and the two original stories, as well as the 2005 and 2006 revivals, and the 2010 retelling of WHISTLE AND I'LL COME TO YOU.  Creepiness abounds in old houses, seaside inns, old abbies, dark train tunnels, even in a bright and beautiful resort or a restored and modernized country cottage.  Denholm Elliot (INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE), Peter Bowles (TO THE MANOR BORN), Robert Hardy (ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL), Clive Swift (KEEPING UP APPEARANCES), Michael Horden (LABYRINTH), and John Hurt (1984) are among the many familiar faces from British film and television to be found in this creepy set.

REVIEW LINK: British Film Institute (UK) Region 0 PAL DVD (DVDBeaver)

GHOST STORIES FOR CHRISTMAS DVD specs:

• Five DVD set
• Various Aspect Ratios (4:3 and 16:9)
• English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono and stereo
• Disc One:
• "Whistle and I'll Come to You" (1968 and 2010 versions)
• Jonathan Miller and Christopher Frayling discuss the 1968 version
• Introduction to the 1968 version by horror writer Ramsey Campbell
• MR James' original story read by Neil Brand
• Ramsey Campbell reads his own MR James-inspired story "The Guide"
• Disc Two:
• "The Stalls of Barchester" (1971) and "A Warning to the Curious" (1972)
• Filmed introductions with director Lawrence Gordon Clark
• "Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee" - "The Stalls of Barchester" and "A Warning to the Curious"
• Disc Three:
• "Lost Hearts" (1973), "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas" (1974), and "The Ash Tree" (1975)
• Filmed introductions with director Lawrence Gordon Clark
• Disc Four:
• "The Signalman" (1976), "Stigma" (1977), and "The Ice House" (1978)
• Filmed introductions to "The Signalman" and "Stigma" with director Lawrence Gordon Clark
• Disc Five:
• "A View from a Hill" (2005) and "Number 13" (2006)
• "Ghost Stories for Christmas with Christopher Lee" - "Number 13"
• Liner Notes Booklets